author of Relativity and Robinson, 1938

character in Wells's The Shape of Things to Come

Kabbalah, Jewish mystic interpretations of the Scriptures, comprising the Sefer Yetsirah and the Zohar

Fishburn and Hughes: "From the Hebrew Kabbal, meaning 'to receive': 'the received', or traditional, lore. This general term is applied in Judaeo-Christianity to a body of religious knowledge and experience which seeks to provide a means of approaching God directly, and revealing the hidden inner mysteries of the Old Testament, particularly the five books of Moses. In the words of Gershom Scholem, Cabbala is not one system but is a vast variety of attempts to view, or give symbolic structure to, rabbinical Judaism.

The Cabbala is largely concerned with postulating cosmological systems: that is to say, with speculative theories of the creation, maintenance and destiny of the world and the interrelation of its components. It includes a description of the role of man and other living creatures, the behaviour of the heavenly hosts and the interaction of these with the Godhead. As a method of mystical and poetical exposition of the Scriptures, the Cabbala adopts an immanent approach to the Universe, believing in the hidden existence of godliness behind and within every material object. Thus in Cabbalistic thought the visible world is likened to a veil or curtain which esoteric interpretations are able to lift, revealing a more direct vision of the true mysteries of God and his creation. Since, according to the Jewish account of creation, language preceded the act of creation ('And God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light'), there followed a belief in the magical properties of Hebrew, the language employed by God. In Hebrew each of the 22 letters has its equivalent numerical value, and an important Cabbalistic method of exegesis is Gematria, or the interpretation of the Scriptures based upon numerical calculations and combinations of the Hebrew letters. This method did not exclude belief in the magic and creative properties of the Hebrew letters which, if deciphered, might reveal not only the ineffable presence of God, but also his mysterious power of creation. A guide to the different Cabbalistic theories can be found in the Zohar, the holy book of Cabbalism. Borges was attracted to any idea which postulated the unreality of the visible world; what fascinated him particularly about the Cabbala was the idea of a systematic combinatorial method of mystical revelation. See Pentateuch." (36-37)

Wilder novel, 1925

poem by Álvaro Melián Lanifur

street and neighborhood in Buenos Aires

Parodi: "un barrio de Buenos Aires ubicado en el centro geográfico de la ciudad. En sus comienzos, Caballito quedaba alejado del centro y a lo largo de la avenida Rivadavia se alineaban lujosas quintas que eran un lugar de descanso para porteños adinerados" (306).

Chinese monster which looks like a black-headed flying dog

horse which lives in the sea, mentioned in the Arabian Nights and other sources

Zorrilla, 1842.

Ipuche poem

book of watercolors of horses by Juan Carlos Castagnino, with preface by Borges, 1971

Lugones story in Las fuerzas extrañas

street in Buenos Aires

Lugones poem in Romances del Río Seco

character in Bustos Domecq story

Parodi: "“la razón social A. Cabezas”: “A. Cabezas” era una tienda de ropa para hombres, mujeres y niños, ubicada en la calle Perú entre Florida y San Martín, conocida popularmente como “lo de Cabezas” (cf. Borges 1313). El nombre de la tienda se emplea aquí como variante para el sustantivo cabeza (cf. “Toros” iv §7)" (392).

18th century Spanish building on the Plaza de Mayo in Buenos Aires

Gabinete negro, Max Jacob, 1922

point in Mar del Plata near Playa Chica

Cape Horn

Cape of Good Hope, southernmost point of Africa

Portuguese navigator, c. 1460-c. 1518, who discovered Brazil in 1500

Parodi: "“queso de Cabrales, de Burriana, de pata de mulo”: tres quesos regionales españoles que se elaboran con leche de cabra y de oveja en Asturias, en Valencia y en Castilla-León" (229).

street in Buenos Aires

ancestors of Borges, a family of early Spanish settlers in South America

priest who accompanied Mendoza at the time of the first foundation of Buenos Aires

Spanish explorer, 1528-1574, founder of Córdoba, Argentina

Cayol and de Bassi sainete with tangos, 1910

Miguel Torga short story

character in Dante's Paradiso

narrator and character in Güiraldes's Don Segundo Sombra

here a cat, but also the nickname of a tango musician

Parodi: "“Mi viejo gato Cachafaz”: en lengua popular, el sobrenombre ‘Cachafaz’, aplicado también a personas, significa ‘descarado’, ‘atrevido’, ‘desfachatado’. Según Conde, el término proviene del italiano jergal cacciafanni: divertido, atrevido" (342).

character in Bustos Domecq story

Parodi: "“Lungo Cachaza -el Tigre de la Curia”: el mote de ‘lungo’ (del italiano lungo: largo) indica que se trata de un individuo de elevada estatura que en este caso es además de movimientos o acciones lentas (en lengua coloquial, ‘cachaza’ tiene el significado de ‘lento’). Para ‘tigre’, cf. “Doce” i §29" (141).

hot springs in the province of Mendoza

Parodi:" “Le juro por las termas de Cacheuta”: fórmula ‘vernácula’ de juramento (cf. “Limardo” i §16). Cacheuta es una localidad de la provincia de Mendoza, que dispone de una célebre fuente de aguas termales" (204).

A Bergantin used as a Prison.

play

Spanish writer, 1741-1782

Portuguese literary periodical, founded in 1940 by Tomás Kim

Argentine poet and tango songwriter (1900-1999)

port city in southern Spain

early English poet, fl. 670, known for being inspired by his dreams

one of Fernando Pessoa's heteronyms

city in Normandy, France

village in Wales associated with Arthurian legend

Shaw play, 1901

cafe in Madrid

old cafe in Montevideo, at Rambla 25 de agosto and Colón

cafe in downtown Geneva, here apparently the title of a text by Maurice Abramowicz

cafe in Paris, on the Rue de l'Ancienne Comédie

Parodi: "uno de los más célebres y antiguos café-restaurantes de París, cercano a Saint-Germain-des-Prés y a la Comédie Française. Fue fundado en 1686 por el siciliano Francesco Procopio Dei Coltelli. Desde su creación fue un lugar de encuentro de escritores e intelectuales, entre los que se contaron Voltaire y Diderot" (282).

old cafe and restaurant near the Plaza de Mayo in Buenos Aires

Parodi: "antiguo café ubicado en el barrio de Monserrat, sobre la Avenida de Mayo, probablemente el más antiguo de los aún existentes en la ciudad. Inaugurado en 1858, desde 1880 ocupa el local de la Avenida de Mayo 825. A lo largo de los años fue lugar de tertulias y peñas, y de encuentro de figuras del arte y la cultura nacional e internacional, entre las que se contaba Borges. Actualmente es una atracción turística" (312).

site of battle in Uruguay in 1839 between the Uruguayan forces of Rivera and the army of Juan Manuel de Rosas

pseud. of Giuseppe Balsamo, Italian alchemist, adventurer, physician and impostor, 1743-95

Gide

Swiss-born Argentine writer, 1902-1975

city in south central France

Argentine literary critic, b. 1910, author of studies of Benito Lynch, gauchesque poetry, Bécquer and other topics, and compiler of an anthology of Spanish American poetry

French intellectual, 1913-1978, lived in Argentina during the Second World War

brother and slayer of Abel in the Bible

Zorilla, 1842.

US novelist and journalist, 1892-1977.

Fishburn and Hughes: "A heretical Gnostic sect mentioned by Irenaeus, Epiphanius of Salamis and other Christian writers. Their name was derived from the cult of Cain whom they acclaimed for withstanding the God of the Old Testament, regarded by them as the cause of evil in the world. The Cainites possessed an apocryphal Gospel of Judas and believed that Judas, being in contact with the 'Truth', was aware of providence and brought about Jesus's betrayal because he knew in advance that it had to happen. The Cainites stressed the importance of evil in perpetual contest with good for supremacy in the universe, and held a dualistic creed not unlike the system of the Gnostics." (37)

capital of Egypt

city in Illinois

Argentine printmaker associated with the Instituto Argentino de Artes Gráficas and with Solidaridad Social

cicle of poems by Walt Whitman

Argentine writer, 1901-1978

Silva Valdes poem

victim of the Argentine judicial system defended by Gerchunoff

city near Zaragoza, Spain

Indian group of northern Argentina

Girondo book of poems, 1925

Calcutta, city in India

Calcutta newspaper founded in 1821

quarterly review, founded in 1844

lower region of Mesopotamia

Spanish playwright, 1600-81, author of La vida es sueño and countless other plays

US writer, 1903-87, author of Tobacco Road, God's Little Acre and other works

ranch in Borges story "El Congreso"

Zorrilla, 1845.

Argentine Indian leader, d. 1873, subject of a novel by Estanislao Zeballos

Parodi: "Juan Calfucurá (‘Piedra azul’), cacique araucano, muerto en 1873; protegido de Juan Manuel de Rosas, fundador de la Dinastía de los Piedra, jefe de una confederación indígena con capital en Salinas Grandes, continuó incursionando en ciudades de la provincia de Buenos Aires hasta su derrota en 1872" (176).

city in Colombia

character in Shakespeare's Tempest

Browning poem in Dramatis Personae, 1864

Khozikode, city in northern part of Kerala state, India, known as the City of Spices

Vilaseco

Parodi: "poema supuestamente publicado en Proa; cf. “Loomis” §2" (311).

state in western United States

town in the province of Santa Fe, Argentina

Parodi: "de las tres localidades mencionadas, Pujato aparece en “H.B.D.” §3 y Quequén, en “Vestuario I” §1. La California es una localidad de la provincia de Santa Fe, cercana a Las Rosas y a Rosario, situada a unos 400 km de Buenos Aires" (336).

here a reference to the university campus in Berkeley, California

nickname of Caius Caesar Germanicus, Roman emperor, 12-41

translation of the Pancatantra, a Sanskrit collection of moral fables, made for Alfonso X el Sabio, known in Arabic as Kalila wa Dimna

Parodi: "colección de fábulas morales que Alfonso xi el Sabio (1221-1284) hizo traducir al castellano hacia 1251 de la versión árabe de Kalila wa Dimna, obra del escritor persa Ibn al-Muqaffa (c.720-c.757), basada a su vez en una colección de fábulas en sánscrito, el Panchatantra. Los cuentos ejemplarizantes están contados y protagonizados por animales: un buey, un león y dos chacales llamados Calila y Dimna" (265).

Calypso, nymph, daughter of Atlas, who figures as a character in the Odyssey

London novel, 1903

street in Buenos Aires

Street in Buenos Aires.

street in La Plata

Street in the city of Montevideo, Uruguay.

Street in Buenos Aires

Lange book of poems, 1925

Former street of the city of Montevideo, Uruguay

A long street in Buenos Aires

Borges poem in Fervor de Buenos Aires

Fishburn and Hughes: "The streets Rivadavia and Montes de Oca in Barracas and Constitución, an old part of Buenos Aires, once patrician, now run down." (38)

Apollinaire visual poems, 1918

Italian philosopher, 1904-86, author of Estetica, semantica, istorica and many other works, active in anti-fascist movements in Italy

Argentine poet, 1890-1923, author of Humanamente, 1918

Roman noblewoman, wife of Julius Caesar

Calvary, place of the crucifixion

Fishburn and Hughes: "A religious movement initiated by the French theologian and reformist John Calvin (1509- 1564). Calvin established a strict theocratic regime in Geneva, assuming wide-ranging powers over the private life of its citizens; infringements led to excommunication and exile. Calvinism was in direct opposition to Rome. Hence the distaste with which the presumably traditionally Roman Catholic narrator in the story alluded to it; but it also differed from other Protestant movements by its extreme position on predestination. Calvinism held that after the Fall, itself determined by God, everything that man wills and does is sin. There are only two paths to follow, concupiscence or grace, but man has no power over which to adopt, the choice having been predestined by God." (38)

Jean Calvinus or Cauvin, Swiss religious leader, 1509-64, author of Institution de la religion chrétienne and many other works

Italian writer, born in Cuba, 1923-85

story by Menén Desleal

Argentine writer, 1883-1915, author of Pedagogia social and El diletantismo sentimental

The Chamber of Deputies of the Argentine Goverment.

See House of Commons

Parodi: "la Cámara Argentina del Libro o Sociedad de Editores Argentinos fue creada en 1938 con el objetivo, entre otros, de fomentar la industria editorial local y en especial, la edición de autores nacionales"(180).

Portuguese author of Viagens em Marrocos, 1876

street in Buenos Aires

minor character in Bustos Domecq story

Parodi:" “ya hablé con De Filipo y con Camargo”: dos supuestos jugadores de Abasto Junior" (325).

Spanish humorist, 1882-1962, author of La rana viajera and other works

Parodi: "“Como Julio Camba estampase en La rana viajera”: Julio Camba Andreu (1884-1962) fue un periodista y escritor humorista español. A los trece años se embarcó como polizón hacia la Argentina y en Buenos Aires se unió a los círculos anarquistas; en 1902 fue expulsado del país junto a otros izquierdistas. De regreso en España, en 1904 inició su carrera periodística, principalmente como corresponsal en varios países extranjeros. Su amplísima obra incluye títulos publicados entre 1916 y 1958. La rana viajera (1920) es una compilación de más de setenta artículos breves publicados en los grandes periódicos de la época. En esas columnas, con humor, ironía y fino sentido de la crítica Camba refleja el malestar de la sociedad española en aquellos momentos" (414-15).

Argentine woman married to Ramón Blanco and then to Diego de Alvear, owner of a quinta in the Calle 11 de septiembre, Belgrano, Buenos Aires

Discepolo tango

Argentine poet and dramatist, 1908-96, author of El problema de las generaciones literarias

city in England, site of Cambridge University

city in Massachusetts, site of Harvard University

here attributed to More, though the authors of the early editions were Trent, Erskine, Sherman and Van Doren; first published 1917-21

Ward and Waller, first published 1904-1916

city in New Jersey where Whitman lived

city in Ohio

editor of the apocryphal Deliciae Poetarum Borussiae, perhaps based on Joachim Camerarius, German classical scholar, 1500-74

H. G. Wells novel, 1937

character in El curioso impertinente, the exemplary novel Cervantes included in the first part of Don Quijote

tango song

former name of Avenida Sáenz, street in Buenos Aires

Williams play, 1953

Argentine poet, 1877-1944, author of Chacayaleras, Chaquiras, El paisaje, el hombre y su canción and other works, mostly remembered for the poem El tango in Chaquiras

Miguel Alfredo D’Elia poem, awarded third prize in a 1929 contest

Luis Vaz de Camões, Portuguese poet and adventurer, 1524-80, author of the epic poem Os Lusíadas as well as sonnets and other lyrics, sometimes written Camoens

El campamento Domineau, Pierre Mac Orlan novel, 1937

site of battle between Florence and Arezzo in 1289 in which Dante took part

nickname of a thug in Buenos Aires

Argentine magazine of the 1920s

tango by Flores and Linnig, c. 1925

Rey Escalona

Alain epigrams

Italian philosopher, 1568-1639, author of the Civitas Solis, De sensu rerum, De Monarchia Hispanica and other works

region of southern Italy

Spanish dictionary, 1891 and other editions

Parodi: "una obra del erudito peruano Manuel González de la Rosa (1841−1912), que fue sacerdote, historiador, bibliófilo, arqueólogo, estudioso de las culturas y lenguas precolombinas. En 1891, en París, González de la Rosa editó el Campano ilustrado: diccionario ilustrado castellano enciclopédico, una versión corregida y muy aumentada del Diccionario general abreviado de la Lengua Castellana. El más completo de los publicados hasta el día, que abraza los términos literarios y los del lenguaje usual en su sentido propio y figurado, de Lorenzo Campano (1876), al que incorporó gran cantidad de americanismos y peruanismos" (69-70).

Irish sailor who came to the River Plate with the English forces in 1806-07, deserted, then worked with Artigas organizing naval forces to defend the River Plate estuary, also a tanner, d. 1832

South African poet, 1902-57, translator of Camões, Juan de la Cruz and Calderón, and author of Flowering Rifle, a book about the Spanish Civil War

Spanish professor of literature and philosophy, 1834-1902, author of Lecciones de calotecnia para un curso de principios generales de literatura y literatura española, 1879

Pereda Valdés poem

Carlos Vega book of poems, 1927

The father of the gauschesque poet Estanislao del Campo

Argentine poet, 1834-1880, author of Fausto and other poems

Parodi: "el poeta gauchesco y político argentino Estanislao del Campo (1834−1880) es autor de Fausto: impresiones del gaucho Anastasio El Pollo en la representación de esta ópera (1866), que publicó bajo el pseudónimo de Anastasio el Pollo" (29).

Gauchesque poetry book by Miguel Domingo Etchebarne

Elysian Fields of classical mythology

Mexican writer, 1876-1945, author of El folklore y la musica mexicana

Italian nobleman, Ghibelline leader of Verona and protector of Dante, who wrote him a famous letter about the Divina Commedia

country in North America

town in province of Santa Fe near Rosario

place in the province of Buenos Aires, site of 1820 battle between Unitarios and Federales

Parodi: "es la más antigua de las emisoras de televisión en la Argentina. Su primera transmisión se realizó el 17 de octubre de 1951, con la difusión, desde la Plaza de Mayo del acto de celebración del ‘Día de la Lealtad Popular’, la mayor de las efemérides peronistas, que recuerda la movilización del 17 de octubre de 1945, cuando una multitud de obreros y sindicalistas exigieron la liberación del Coronel Juan D. Perón. En la actualidad, bajo el nombre de TV Pública, es el canal de mayor cobertura nacional, es gestionado por el Estado y depende directamente del Poder Ejecutivo Nacional" (288).

English Channel

Argentine poet and essayist, 1897-1982, author of Ensayo sobre la expresión popular artística en Santiago del Estero, Proposiciones en torno al problema de una cultura nacional argentina and other works, here ridiculed as Padre Feijoo Canal, author of Tratado del epíteto en la Cuenca del Plata

Parodi: "“El P. Feijóo (¿Canal?)”: la interrogación que Bustos coloca entre paréntesis insinúa su duda de si el autor de Epíteto en la Cuenca del Plata es Fray Benito Jerónimo Feijóo y Montenegro (1676-1764) o el poeta y ensayista argentino Bernardo Canal Feijóo (1897-1982). Fray Feijóo fue un erudito, ensayista y polígrafo español de la Ilustración, autor de cientos de opúsculos polémicos que versan sobre temas varios. También autor de obras menores como Apología del escepticismo médico (1725), Satisfacción al Escrupuloso (1727), Respuesta al discurso fisiológico−médico (1727), Ilustración apologética (1729). Por su parte, Bernardo Canal Feijóo fue historiador, jurista, sociólogo, folclorista y dramaturgo, miembro y presidente de la Academia de Letras; participó en el movimiento ultraísta, en los grupos de Florida y de Boedo (cf. “Vestuario I” §8) y colaboró en la revista Martín Fierro. Fue premiado en varias ocasiones. Autor de ensayos sobre la realidad argentina, de poemas y de obras teatrales. Los comentarios de Borges y de Bioy sobre Canal Feijóo expresan el poco aprecio que sentían por él: en Borges 375, refiriéndose a Canal, dice Borges: “Ha de escribir como una persona que quiere decir algo, no encuentra la palabra justa, pone otra, sigue buscando, pone otra, pone otra y así sucesivamente: ‘Se abrochó el cuello, se anudó la cincha, quiero decir el cinturón, quiero decir la corbata.’ O: ‘Para salir a la calle ponte las pantuflas, las herraduras, los patines, las botas de potro, el calzado’”. En Borges 384, dice Bioy: “yo pienso, sin embargo, que sólo podría uno decir que Canal Feijóo es señor en oposición a ser escritor: es señor como un señor comisario o un señor vicepresidente de comité político de pueblo de campo”. También en Descanso 201, Bioy recurre al nombre de Canal para ejemplificar una entrada: “Idiomáticas. Pajarón: presuntuoso, persona de más prestigio que valía, como Battistessa o Canal Feijóo”" (300)

milonga, perhaps the early anonymous milonga "La canaria de Canelones"

Canary Islands, Spanish territory off the coast of west Africa

Uruguayan tango composer, violinist and director, 1888-1964.

Van Dine mystery, 1927

US critic, teacher and editor, 1878-1961

Canción de odio, Guerra Junqueiro poem

Argentine dramatist, novelist and short-story writer, 1892-1957

a crab that bit Herakles's ankle during his battle with the Hydra, now a zodiac sign

Cerberus, monstrous dog that guards the underworld in classical mythology

site of battle in Chile in 1818 in which San Martin was defeated by the Spanish forces

Fishburn and Hughes: "The site of a battle in Chile fought on 19 March 1818, when the army of San Martín was defeated by the Royalist forces. San Martín managed to save most of his men, but lost nearly all his military equipment. For a brief period the independence of Chile, which had seemed secure after the victory of Chacabuco, was uncertain, but it was finally assured on 5 April 1818 with the triumph at Maipú." (39)

Rodrigo Caro poem

Silva Valdés poem in Poemas nativos

poem by Ildefonso Pereda Valdés

Darío poem in Cantos de vida y esperanza, 1905

from Rafael Jijena Sánchez’s book of poems Achalay

Carriego posthumous book of poems, 1913

Atli

poem from Idelfonso Pereda’s book Música y acero

collection of Galician-Portuguese lyric, end of the 13th century, in the library of the Ajuda Palace in Lisbon

Cancionero General, collection of Portuguese lyric published in 1516 by Garcia de Resende

Aragonese anthology that includes Quesillos y requesones, 1721

Ventura Lynch, 1925, revised edition of his book La Provincia de Buenos Aires hasta la definición de la cuestión capital de la República

Jorge Furt work in 2 vols., 1923-25

collection of medieval Portuguese lyric, also known as the Cancioneiro da Biblioteca Nacional

Canciones de la tarde, João de Lemos, 1875

Eugenio de Castro poems

Cansinos Assens "psalmos," 1914

street in Buenos Aires

character in Hudson's Purple Land

Spanish bandit, 1804-1837

Shaw heroine, protagonist of Candida

Voltaire philosophical romance, 1759

character in Voltaire's Candide

Argentine writer, 1897-1957

Argentine writer and journalist, 1851-1905, author of Juvenilia and other works

city in Uruguay near Montevideo

city in Peru near Ayacucho

Street in Buenos Aires

Parodi: "antigua calle de Buenos Aires que recibió ese nombre en 1895 en honor al pueblo de Cangallo destruido totalmente por las tropas realistas durante la campaña de San Martín en Alto Perú. El 30 de diciembre de 1984 escribe Bioy en Descanso: “Fue en Cangallo, 2330 (o 2230), donde formamos fila, Drago, Julito, Charley y yo, para pasar por los brazos de la Negra, prostituta […] Yo tenía doce o trece años. Hoy le cambiaron el nombre a la calle.” (335). Desde esa fecha ‘Cangallo’ se llama Teniente General Perón y el nombre de Cangallo lo recibe un tramo de la calle Arengreen, cerca del Parque Centenario, en Caballito. El Hotel El Nuevo Imparcial) supuestamente estaba ubicado en Cangallo al 3400" (109).

nickname used by Bustos Domecq

seaside boulevard in Marseille

Dadaist magazine, edited by Francis Picabia in 1920

avenue in Buenos Aires named for George Canning, British foreign secretary, now renamed Raúl Scalabrini Ortiz

avenue in Belgrano neighborhood of Buenos Aires

Tibetan Buddhist prayers

Spanish poet, novelist, translator and critic, 1883-1964

Carriego poem

Antonio D. Lussich's poem

in Bible, Song of Songs

cathedral city in southern England

Fishburn and Hughes: "A city in Kent, the see of the Primate of All England.
The archbishop of Canterbury referred to is St Anselm (c.1033-1109), one of the foremost scholastic thinkers. In what has come to be known as the Ontological Argument, Anselm sought to prove the existence of God on purely logical grounds, reasoning that if, as we must, we mean by God 'that than which nothing greater can be conceived', we cannot conceive of this entity unless it exists: what exists in external reality must be greater than what exists in the mind: thus God must exist not only inside the mind but also outside, in the 'real' world. The argument was shown to be circular by Aquinas and Kant, since existence cannot be regarded as predicate." (39)

Chaucer poem, written c.1387-1400

Frank Ernest Hill translation of Chaucer poem into modern English

João Ruiz de Castelo Branco poem from the Cancioneiro Geral

brief poems written in medieval Galician and Portuguese

called here Cantares de amor, poems in medieval Galician-Portuguese on the theme of love

collection of medieval songs compiled during the reign of Alfonso X el Sabio.

Darío poem for the Argentine centenary of 1910, collected in Canto a la Argentina y otros poemas, 1914

Ildefonso Pereda Valdés poem

Fernán Silva Valdés poem in the book Poemas Nativos

Fishburn and Hughes:  "One of several examples in 'The Aleph' of 'universal poems': that is, poems which take a global view of the universe. Others are Drayton's Polyolbion and, though not specifically mentioned, the Divine Comedy. The title may be an allusion to Neruda's Canto General, in which he tells the history of America, from earliest times, before it got its name, to the present. The Canto was not published until 1950, a year after 'The Aleph', but Neruda began writing it in 1938 and Borges probably knew of it. Borges was critical of Neruda's denunciation of the USA in the Canto, because of his silence about Perón, which Borges attributed to self-interest. Earlier, Neruda had written a collection of poems entitled Residence on Earth. 'The Earth', the poem mentioned in the same story, may be an allusion to this." (18)

Ildefonso Pereda Valdés poem

Lugones poem in El libro fiel

Darío book of poems, 1907

Pérez Zelaschi, poetry, 1975.

Borges translation of a poem by Maurice Abramowicz published under the pseudonym Maurice Claude

Lugones poem in Poemas solariegos

Argentine novelist, journalist and translator, 1919-1994, author of El muro de mármol, El retrato de la imagen and other works, object of Borges's love in the 1940s and the model for Beatriz Viterbo in El Aleph

Guangzhou, city in southern China

Tango song written by Enrique Cardícamo.

German mathematician, 1845-1918, known for his work on set theory and transfinite numbers

Pound poem series, ultimately 120 poems, 1930-1969

Parodi: "“un copioso fragmento de la Odisea inaugura uno de los Cantos de Pound”: el Canto I de Pound comienza por una versión poética del canto XI de la Odisea, que narra el descenso de Ulises al Hades" (256).

Pérez Zelaschi, poetry, 1944.

Darío book of poems, 1905

Rodríguez Marín collection in 5 vols., 1882-83

Italian historian and politician, 1804-1895, author of a universal history in many volumes

Parodi: "“la Historia Universal de César Cantú”: el historiador y político italiano César Cantú (1807−1896) publicó en veinte volúmenes una Historia universal, de gran difusión en la segunda mitad del siglo XIX y la primera del XX. En la Argentina, un compendio de esa extensa obra fue el libro de texto escolar más empleado en la época para el aprendizaje de la historia universal" (45).

settlement in state of Bahia in northeastern Brazil where Antonio Maciel the "Conselheiro" lived with his followers

town in province of Buenos Aires

Parodi: 1) "ciudad de la provincia de Buenos Aires, al sur de la capital, en una zona dedicada a la agricultura y la ganadería. En 1889 se instaló allí la primera industria láctea del país, La Martona, propiedad de la familia de Bioy Casares. La Estación Cañuelas está sobre la línea del Ferrocarril Roca, a 60 km de la terminal de Constitución. ‘Cañuelas’ es mencionada también en “Hijo” ii §78" (151).

2) "‘coronar’ está empleado en el sentido de ‘llegar al punto más alto o extremo’, ‘culminar’. Para Cañuelas, cf. “Signo” §2" (402).

Xose María Cao Luaces, 1862-1918, caricaturist who directed Caras y Caretas, here illustrator of Loomis's Catre

Parodi:" “Catre, ilustrado por el lápiz de Cao”: el dibujante y caricaturista español Xose María Cao (1862-1918) nacido en Galicia, emigró a la Argentina en 1886. Colaboró en diarios y revistas (Don Quijote, Crítica, La Nación, El Hogar) y en Caras y Caretas (cf. “Vilaseco” §1), publicación a la que se incorporó en 1898 y de la que fue director artístico hasta 1912. Ese mismo año fundó la revista Fray Mocho (cf. “Doce”, Dedicatoria) y en 1917 la Revista Popular" (278).

chaos, the unformed universe in Greek mythology

Rodolfo Wilcock’s work, 1960.

Fishburn and Hughes: "A pejorative term used in the River Plate to designate a bodyguard, or bully's henchman." (39)

Argentine poet and essayist, 1889-1967, author of Melpomene, La fiesta del mundo and other works

Czech writer, 1890-1938

Latin encyclopedist, 5th century A.D., author of De Nuptiis

German classical philologist, 1871-1961, author of Die griechische Philosophie, 1922, Das alten Germanien, 1937, and other works

town in the Sierras de Córdoba, Argentina

chapel established in 1725 in what is now the city of Rosario, Argentina

Sixtine Chapel in Vatican

Parodi: "referencia a los castrados que remplazaron las voces femeninas en los coros, en especial en la Capilla Sixtina, desde que en el siglo xvi el Papa Pablo IV prohibió que las mujeres cantaran en las iglesias" (90).

the Green Chapel in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Parodi:" “la Capital Federal”: nombre oficial de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires hasta 1996; en ese año se le otorgó autonomía legislativa y jurisdiccional y pasó a llamarse Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires. El jefe de gobierno de la CABA es elegido directamente por el pueblo de la ciudad" (135).

river in the Luján delta in Tigre

character in Bustos Domecq story

Parodi: "supuesto “Gran Capo” de la mafia rosarina, después de la muerte de Carlo Morganti. Vive en una elegante avenida de Rosario, el Boulevar Nicasio V. Oroño. Por un tiempo se esconde en Las Magnolias, la quinta de Larrea. El término ‘capo’ proviene del italiano capo, que se emplea coloquialmente con el significado de ‘jefe’, ‘cabeza’ y se aplica a la persona con poder y mando, y también al muy entendido en una determinada materia" (339).

hill in Rome where the temple of Jupiter was located

Alfonso Reyes essays, 1939 and 1945

US gangster, born in Italy, 1899-1947

character in Bustos Domecq story

Parodi: "otro supuesto mafioso, enemigo de Capitano. El apellido Caponsacchi coincide con el de un personaje de The Ring and the Book, poema de Robert Browning publicado hacia 1869 en el que Browning elabora poéticamente un proceso por asesinato que tuvo lugar en Roma en 1698. Se acusaba al conde Guido Franceschini de haber matado a su esposa Pompilia Comparini y a sus suegros, bajo la sospecha de que Pompilia mantenía una relación amorosa con el joven clérigo Giuseppe Caponsacchi. (Para Browning cf. “Palabra” §§2-5)" (339-40).

“Las tapas eran con prójimas desnudas y de todos colores, y llevaban por título El jardín perfumado, El espión chino, El hermafrodita de Antonio Panormitano, Kama-Sutra y/o Ananga-Ranga, Las capotas melancólicas, las obras de Elefantis y las del Arzobispo de Benevento." It may refer to some kind of rude joke: the “capotas melancólicas” could be considered as a synonym of “taciturn condoms”. (Mentioned in Bustos Domecq story.)

US novelist, 1924-85, author of In Cold Blood

series of 80 aquatints by Francisco de Goya, 1797-98

Shaw play, 1900

Colonel Jack, Defoe, 1722

Capitán Nicolás, Walpole, 1934

Defoe novel, 1720

Phillpotts, novel, 1933.

Short story be Bloy, published in Histoires désobligeantes (1894).

Los cautivos, Joseph Kessel novel, 1926

hotel in Montevideo

Parodi: "supuesto hotel de Fray Bentos" (264).

early anonymous milonga

Argentine dramatist, friend of Carriego

book by Francisco Villamil, 1933

Argentine lawyer and poet, 1898-1989, one of the editors of Proa

river in Uruguay

Argentine magazine, 1898-1982

Parodi: "una revista semanal que apareció entre 1898 y 1941; combinaba artículos literarios con notas satíricas y comentarios sobre la vida política y social de Buenos Aires y de las provincias; ocasionalmente, también ofrecía información sobre deportes. Cada colaboración iba acompañada de fotografías o estaba ilustrada por reconocidos dibujantes, destacándose los caricaturistas de temas políticos. Cf. “Doce” Dedicatoria" (310).

family of early Spanish settlers in Argentina

hunter and gaucho in Antelo

mentioned in Borges-Bioy filmscript

priest, character in Bustos Domecq stories

Parodi: 1) "“el P. Carbone”: supuesto sacerdote, mencionado también en “Salvación” iii §2. El apellido aparece también en “Hijo” ii §90 y en “Limardo” i §11" (145).

2) "“el doctor Rodolfo Carbone”: tal vez un médico o más probablemente, un abogado. En su obra, Bustos Domecq menciona otros dos personajes de apellido Carbone: en “Testigo”, ‘el P. Carbone’ (§4), al que también se alude en Nuevos cuentos, “Salvación” iii §2. En “Hijo” ii §90, aparece un doctor Carbone, apodado ‘el Momo’" (114).

3) "“el Momo Carbone”: ‘Momo’, el apodo del doctor Carbone, es usual en individuos cuyo nombre de pila es Gerónimo" (404).

book by Marcos Leibovich

Argentine lawyer and writer, 1860-1946

Carcassonne, walled city in southern France

Dunsany story

Piranesi engravings

character in Bustos Domecq story

Parodi:" “mi amigo Julio Cárdenas”: personaje sólo de “Hijo”, conocido por el apodo de Telescopio" (385).

city in southern Wales

landowner in Tacuarembó, character in Borges story

character in Borges story

gaucho outlaw and knife-fighter, nicknamed Calandria

Italian poet and critic, 1835-1907

Charybdis, whirlpool in a narrow channel of the sea, an obstacle in the Odyssey

Caribbean Sea

Anglada book, 1939

Parodi: "el título de esta obra atribuida a Anglada y supuestamente publicada por su propia editorial, Probeta, insinúa que quien se hizo cargo del coste de la edición fue Manuel Muñagorri, un estanciero dedicado a la cría y selección de toros de raza, aludido aquí como ‘el Minotauro’. En cuanto a ‘buzo’, podría relacionarse con ‘buceador’, un término que Bioy (Diccionario) cataloga como ‘exquisito’: “Exquisitez de importancia hacia los años veinte”" (66).

Emily Dickinson's dog

Charlemagne, Frankish emperor, 742-814

street in Buenos Aires named for the Argentine historian and political figure, 1824-1906

Charles II of France, 823-77

character in Francisco Ayala's El hechizado, 1944

Carlos Zubillaga book, 1976

Charles I, English king, 1600-49, overthrown and beheaded in English Revolution

Fishburn and Hughes: "King of England, Scotland and Ireland from 1625, who came into conflict with the Commons over divine right. Defeated in the Civil War, he was executed in 1649. Eye-witnesses of his execution paid tribute to his demeanour on the scaffold: for example Andrew Marvell, who wrote, 'He nothing common did or mean / Upon that memorable scene' ('Upon Cromwell's Return from Ireland'). Borges described the execution in a poem entitled 'A Morning in 1649'. Its poignancy lies in the irony of the final verse. Fearlessly approaching death, the king greets the crowds with the same smile with which he had responded in previous years to their ovations: 'Lightly he nods his head / And smiles. He has done it so many times'." (45)

English king, 1630-85

Palatine prince

emperor of Spain and of the Holy Roman Empire, 1500-58

Swedish king, 1682-1718

Fishburn and Hughes: "A king of Sweden, known as 'The Alexander of the North', who led his country in military campaigns for eighteen years, defending it from its northern neighbours. He was an enlightened and reforming ruler. Charles XII admired the historian Quintus Curtius' biography of Alexander and carried a copy with him on all his campaigns. Once, when asked to compromise on a military matter, he was heard to say: 'Memini me Alexandrum, non mercatorem' ('I remember that I am Alexander, not a merchant'). Borges wrote a poem entitled 'Carlos XII'." (45)

Thomas Carlyle's brother, 1801-1879, translator of Dante

British essayist and historian, 1795-1881, author of Sartor Resartus, The French Revolution, On Heroes and many other works

Fishburn and Hughes: "A Scottish historian and essayist, at first much admired by Borges, for whom he was one of a few authors said to epitomise literature (Coleridge’s Flower, TL:242). Borges later rejected Carlyle's cult of heroism, condemning him as the inventor of the idea of the Teutonic race and the direct precursor of the Nazis. Carlyle's Sartor Resartus (The Taylor Re-patched), is an apocryphal biography of a Dr Teufelsdröckh (Devil's Dirt), said to contain many autobiographical details. Carlyle quotes from Teufelsdröckh's mystical writings as if they existed, adding his own commentaries. Borges used similar devices, notably in 'The Approach to Almotasim' and 'Pierre Menard, author of Don Quixote'. CF 353: Carlyle's thesis that men need heroes occurs throughout his writings but particularly in On Heroes, Hero-Worship and the Heroic in History (1841: translated by Borges) and Past and Present (1843)." (40)

Prosper Merimée novel, 1845, and Georges Bizet opera, 1875, about a Spanish gypsy woman

town in the province of Buenos Aires

Lactantius work on the phoenix

city in the province of Buenos Aires

character in the Libro de buen amor

collection of Alain epigrams

Anglada naturalist novel, 1914

Parodi: "el título sugiere una alusión a la novela naturalista del poeta, ensayista y periodista uruguayo Elías Castelnuovo (1893−1982), uno de los fundadores del llamado Grupo Boedo, que en 1926 publicó Carne de cañón. (Conato de novela naturalista, dividida en un prólogo, dos operaciones y un entierro) y en 1930, Carne de hospital" (66).